DABTH wrote:

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lol.... that will be the day!

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you could be right - the last sector, LAX-SJC on LH/UA Star Alliance, was 90 minutes late. And in an aircraft that had not been cleaned, apparently.

Desi food is the best in AI.  

 

-- Edited by JumboJet at 14:28, 2006-08-08

Passengers refuse to alight AI flight; cite two-day delay 

Kozhikode, Aug 8 (UNI)

Agitated over the undue delay in departure, passengers of an Air India flight that left Jeddah two days behind schedule, went on a protest by refusing to alight at the Karipur international airport this morning, police said.

Jeddah-Kozhikode flight, originally scheduled to depart on Sunday was grounded at the airport there due to some technical snag and reached here only at 0745 AM today, they said.

When contacted, AI sources said the delay was inevitable owing to some technical reasons and all the 240 passengers were accomodated at various hotels in Jeddah during the intervening period.

However, the passengers complained at AI failed to make alternate arrangements even as the delay prolonged gradually.

After staying in the flight for some time, the passengers finally got down and shouted slogans before dispersing from the scene. 

tayara mechanici wrote:

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Let's see what does accenture have to say ? what is accenture exp of merging a sphagetti organisation like IA/AI ? Any body with info.

-- Edited by tayara mechanici at 16:54, 2006-08-08

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In the thread "Indian aviation and Parliament", Praful Patel told the Rajya Sabha only today (Aug. 8) that the Govt., is actively considering the merger of IA/AI and also confirming the appointment of Accenture. Most news channels have been flashing this. Main word here is "under active consideration". In the next sentence, Patel talks of the IA's new look!!  

-- Edited by karatecatman at 18:11, 2006-08-08

-- Edited by karatecatman at 18:13, 2006-08-08

 Air-India to help its staff manage change
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2006 02:26:42 AM] NEW DELHI: In a bid to keep its employees abreast with the changing times, Air-India plans a ‘change management programme’ for its 14,000-odd employees, for the first-time in the last ten years. The company-wide programme will be part of the airline’s Rs 100-crore business process re-engineering exercise, that involves upgradation of IT infrastructure and communication technology, evolve new HR practices and employee productivity enhancement modules.

The international carrier will soon appoint a consultant to work on such a programme that will help employees adjust to the changing work culture within Air-India, and also keep up with t`he dynamic business environment of the aviation sector, V Thulsidas, chairman & managing director, Air-India told ET.

The airline is also close to finalising a fresh productivity-linked wage settlement deal with its employee unions that would lead to 15-20% jump in salary of Air-India employees across the board, he added. Consultants such as IBM and TCS are among the top contenders — from more than a dozen odd bidders — to be the change agents for Air-India’s business process re-engineering efforts, as part of the airline’s capex estimated to be around Rs 100-odd crore over the next two-three years, sources said.

Airline officials said they plan to kick off the change management programme for employees over the next three months. The previous such company-wide programme was held in 1996.

Mr Thulsidas said the technology and business process upgradation will be in line with latest IATA norms, as the airline gets ready to join one of the three global alliances by the year-end.

Air-India has placed orders for 68 new aircraft that will join the fleet over the next five years. The airline has recently appointed consultants to re-work its brand image, look-and-feel and service parameters offered to passengers. The airline will start sporting its new look and feel as it starts receiving delivery of new wide-bodied aircraft in February ’07, officials said. Mr Thulsidas said over the last three years the airline has shed over 3,000 people, even as it doubled its fleet size in the same period.

“We have been able to bring down staff per aircraft from around 500 to less than 400 in the last three years,” he added. The airline will soon come out with new parameters to measure employee productivity and come out with productivity enhancement modules, he added.

Economic Times

seems some change is round the corner

rgds

VT-ASJ

-- Edited by Aseem at 22:48, 2006-08-20

AI seems to be learning many lessons!

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=4524
AI outsources JFK ground handling to Swissport
 
P R Sanjai / Mumbai August 21, 2006
 
 
 
National flag carrier Air-India (AI) has outsourced its passenger handling operations at the J F Kennedy airport to Zurich-based ground handling major Swissport International.

The outsourcing contract would result in savings of $7,50,000 per year for Air-India. The passenger handling operations was earlier carried out by 26-member staff and three supervisors.

The airline was amongst the few operators that was handling the flights at JFK airport for the last several years though services to new destinations like Chicago, Los Angles and Newark, where it operates daily services, were outsourced.

According to sources, an agreement was reached with the union for severence pay along with certain benefits for a specified period in lieu of the union agreeing to outsource the activity.

When contacted, an AI spokesperson said: "As part of the corporate strategy, the management is continuously looking out for activities that could be outsourced at foreign and Indian stations instead of doing it by deploying its own manpower."

Eeveral non-core functions are being identified and outsourced even in India resulting in considerable savings on manpower costs, he added.

Meanwhile, Air-India is scouting for flying training institutes to provide training to science and engineering graduates with zero flying background. The institutes would provide prospective candidates with Commercial Pilot Training and Multi Engine Rating as per syllabus and regulation prescribed by the Director General of Civil Aviation.

The candidates will be provided assistance by Air India to obtain educational loan to fund their own training.

The airline is also in the process of appointing a professional recruitment agency (PRA) for carrying out activities related to conduct of written tests and other formalities for selecting cadet pilots at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.
 
 

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=197532
A-I passengers’ 2-day journey to Dubai
 
Delayed crew, technical snag result in a two-hour trip take long hours
 
Plaban Gupta
 
Pune, August 19: A simple activity like taking a flight turned out to be a nightmare for the 90 passengers of Dubai-bound Air-India flight AI-719 on Friday as a ‘missing’ aircraft and technical snags resulted in them being stranded at the Lohegaon Airport — and later at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Domestic Airport — for over 24 hours.

After completing the check-in formalities for the 3 pm-flight, an A-I official said that the flight had not arrived from Mumbai as there was no crew.  
 
A V Condillac (63), a businessman from Dubai who was in Pune to visit his family checked in at 12.30 pm on Friday to finally reach Dubai at 5.30 pm (Indian Standard Time) on Saturday. ‘‘The aircraft arrived at 5.30 pm on Friday at Pune,’’ he said.

And that was not the end of the ordeal. After passengers boarded the plane but were told there was a minor technical snag. ‘‘The captain of the plane told us that one of the air conditioners wasn’t working,’’ Condillac added.

‘‘There were three children on the flight who were running a temperature and even though it was very warm, we weren’t allowed to get off,’’ he said. The passengers were finally allowed to disembark at 8.30 pm.

An Air-India official, on condition of anonymity, said: ‘‘In the holding area, we have a provision for only 100 people. There were already around 200 passengers there and we couldn’t let another hundred there.’’

The flight then took off — but for Mumbai — to have the passengers board a connecting flight to Dubai. An A-I official said: ‘‘The air conditioning wan’t working properly. Under such circumstances, the plane cannot travel for 3 to 4 hours at a stretch but a short trip is not a problem.’’

However, there was another rude shock in store at Mumbai when passengers were told that there had been no intimation from Pune authorities and consequently, there was no connecting flight.

Meanwhile, as anxious relatives calling the A-I office in Dubai were provided no information. Some of them even called the office of The Indian Express asking for information. ‘‘We do not know what’s going on. Can you find out if and when the flight will take off?’’ said an anxious mother whose five-year-old son was on the flight.

An A-I spokesperson from Mumbai however, said there were no aircrafts available in Mumbai. ‘‘All passengers were provided with hotel accommodation and a Tokyo-bound flight was diverted through Dubai to ferry passengers,’’ he said.

 

http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=318652&sid=REG

http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=318652&sid=REG
Despite confirmed tickets, passengers denied entry to plane 
 
Amritsar, Aug 28: Thirty passengers, who were to board the Air India flight for Toronto, were left and dry at Rajasansi airport here on Monday after they were denied entry to the plane despite having confirmed tickets.

Airport sources said they were not allowed to board the plane which was packed to capacity.

All the 30 passengers, who were having confirmed tickets, protested strongly and forced AI staffers to leave their enquiry counters.

Later, Air India officials apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience caused to them.

They promised to arrange for them the next available flight to Toronto.

Bureau Report

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1933667.cms
Pune to Dubai in 30 hrs
Manju V
[ 29 Aug, 2006 0248hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
 
 
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates

MUMBAI: Flying from Pune to Dubai usually takes about three hours. But last week, about 90 Air India passengers took 30 hours to complete that journey, as technical snags and operational problems delayed the flight.

The passengers have now taken up the matter with Union civil aviation ministry and the airline, seeking compensation. "We are collecting information about the flight from the 10 passengers who brought the matter to our notice.

We'll be filing a petition in Chennai HC to seek compensation," said Sudhakara Reddy, president of Air Passengers' Association of India.

The AI spokesperson said: "Due to a technical problem, we could not operate that aircraft. So we flew the Pune passengers to Mumbai and routed our Mumbai-Tokyo flight through Dubai, which led to the delay."

The incident took place on August 18. The AI-719 Pune-Dubai flight scheduled for a 3.15 pm departure was delayed by two-and-a-half hours initially.

Then again, about 30 minutes later Capt Walter Lang, commander of the flight, announced that there was a problem in the AC equipment which would be rectified shortly.

"We were made to wait inside the aircraft till 9.15 pm without any air-conditioning or information on the status of departure. Then we disembarked," he added.